Toaster



March 21, 1944.

w. R. WEEKS TOASTER Filed Dec. 12, 1941 5 Sheets-Sheet l Inventor Walter" R. Weeks,

9 Jv MMZW H is Aotorne March 21, 1944. w. R. WEEKS TOASTER 3 Shee tS- Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 12, 1941 Inventor. Walter" R. Weeks,

His Abborneg.

" Patented Mar. 21, 1944 amass 'roasm Walter s. Weeks. llamden, Coma, ste to General Electric New York empany,aeorperationot Application December 12, 1941, Serial No. 422,012 s Claims. (Cl. ss-szs) Thisinvention relates to toasters, more particularly to bread toasters. and it has for its obiect the provision of an improved device of this character.

This invention is particularly applicable to automatic bread toasters in which a timing mechanism-isusedto control the toaster so asto deenergize the heating means and to eject the toasted slice at the end of the toasting period. And it is especially applicable to an automatic toaster of this character which is provided with a slice-holder which is movable to a toasting position in the toasting chamber where it is held until the end or the toasting period when it is automatically released by the timing mechanism and moved to a non-toasting position'by suitable means, as by a biasing spring. The slice-holder when in its non-toasting position holds the toasted slice so that a substantial portion thereof projects from the toasting chamber and, theretore, the slice is subjected to the cooling eflects of the surrounding air. If the slice is not used at once it will quickly become cool.

This invention contemplates the provision of an improved automatic toaster constructed and arranged so that at the end of the toasting interval the toasted slice may at the will of the operator be kept within the toasting chamber and maintained warm by theresidual heat of the toaster.

In accordance with this invention in one form thereof, the toaster is provided with a suitable 'stop member constructed and arranged to cooperate with the slice-holder so that when the stop member is moved to a stop position it limits the movement of the slice-holder toward the non-toasting position at the end of the toasting interval so as to keep the slice within the toasting compartment. Biasing means are provided for biasing the stop member to its stop position.

A manually operable member is provided which coacts with the stop member so that when this lever is in one position it forcibly holds the stop member out of its stop position against the force of the biasing means, and when it is moved to another position it permits the stop member to be moved to its stop position by its biasing means.

In one specific form of this invention, the manually operable control member carries a pin which is arranged to be received in either one of a pair of recesses provided in the stop member. When the pin is received in one of the notches it forcibly holds the stop member out of its stop position and when it is moved into the other it permits the stop member to move to its stop position by the biasing means.

For a more complete understanding of this invention, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of an automatic electric toaster embodying this invention. parts being shown in section and other parts being broken away so as to illustrate certain details of construction; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the electric toaster'of Fig. 1, parts being broken away so as to illustrate certain details of construction; Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the toaster mechanism of Figs. 1 and 2. the outer casing of the toaster being removed; Fig. 4 is a view simflar to Fig. 8, but illustrating certain Parts of the toaster mechanism in different operative positions; Fig. 5 is a front elevation of a thermally operable timing mechanism used in controlling the toaster of Figs. 1-4 inelusive, and drawn on a larger scale than Figs. 1-4; Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the timing mechanism of Fig. 5; Fig. 'l is a fragmentary view 01' a portion or the timing mechanism of Figs. 5 and 6; Figs. 8 and 9 are fragmentary side elevations illustrating a portion of the mechanism shown in Fig. 6, the parts occupying diflerent operative positions in the two figures respectively; Fig. 10 is a plan view of portions of the toaster mechanism; and Fig. 11 is a diagrammatic representation of the heating elements of the toaster and certain of the control means therefor.

Referring to the drawings, this invention has been shown in one form as applied to the automatic electric bread toaster described and claimed in the copending application of Heber Ia Neweli, Serial No. 414,129 flied October 8, 1941,

to the opposite sides of a piece of bread inserted' in the heating chamber. Suitable slice-holders I! (Fig. 3) are mounted within the toasting chambers ill for supporting the slices. These holders are adapted to be moved from upper nontoasting positions to lower toasting positions in the heating chambers. It will be understood that when the holders are in their non-toasting positions, they will support the slices so that rela- Lively large portions thereof will project through the openings lillb. r

The slice-holders it at their forward ends: are provided with portions that project forwardly into, a chamber 93 at the itont of the heating climbers 08. These portions are attached to a suiteble supporting carriage G6 which is mounteel for vertical sliding movement upon a. supporting ieol l5 positioned vertically within the chamber:

Mounted within the chamber 68 is a relatively" strong tension spring it whose function is to bias the carriage 55$ upwardly and thereby the tree's to theicnon-toesting positions in the heating chombexrs. This spring is anchored at its upper end to bracket 5 and at its lower end is en- CllOlEd to the carriage melt: control knob or handle ill, located outof the front well of the toaster, is connected to the ceri'iage 6 3 for moving it from its upper comtcestlng position to its lower toasting position. This handle. as shown, is connected to the carriage by means of a tongue is; which is connectecl with the carriage.

Th6 tongue 69 is mounted upon e plate-like bracket which in turn is mounted upon the cerriege 68. its shown, the bracket at its upper end is provided with hinge lugs 25 which are lilngeo": to the carriage M by means of slots in the carriage. The front plate of the carriage M is provided with e stop which projects through a slot/28a provided for it in the bracket 2E) and which engages a well of the bracket to limit the pivotal movement of the bracket on the hinges 2i outwerdly sway from the; plate. By reason of the foregoing arrangement, the lower end of the bracket Ell can be pivoted outwardly away from the carriage ii! for a limited distance.

The carriage i l not only iunctions to control the position oi the slice-holders, but it also tune tions to control a meincontrol switch 26 connected in. the energizing circuit of the toaster heeting elements M. This switch comprises a pair of fixed contacts E la (Figs. 1, 3, and and a bridging contact 2% which is carried by a spring arm [25, which by its inherent resiliency yieldlngly holds the bridging contact out of engegement with the fixed contacts. The carriage i l at its lower end carries a. depending arm 26 (Figs. 3 and 10) which engages the arm to depress it from its position of Fig. 3 to its position of Fig. 4 so as to close'the switch 2 when the bread slices are lowered.

The carriage is held down in its toasting position against the force of the spring 66 by means of e. hold-down latch El (shown more clearly in Figs. 3 and 4) which is'pivotally mounted at its upper end to the front face plate of the carriage M. This latch can be moved vertically with reference to the carriage for a limited distance and it is biased upwardly by a spring (not shown), as fully described in the above-mentioned Nowell application.

Frojectlng inwardly from the lower end of the rear face of the hold-down latch ll is a locking projection. This projection is arranged to be engaged by a latch arm 29 of a suitable thermally operable timing mechanism. This latch arm is pivoted upon a suitable upright bracket 29a; and it is provided with a pair of vertically spaced locking steps or surfaces and 31. The step is adapted to engage the projection 28 on the holddown latch 21 so as to lock the carriage I4 in its toasting position. For this purpose, the latch arm 29 is moved downward from its position of Figs.

, down to measure the toasting period, and when 3 end 5 to its position of Fig. 4%, that is, from its dotted line position of Fig. 2 to its solid line position of this figure, when the carriage is lowered.

'lslze carriage it carries 9. loading arm 82 for depressing the latch mm 5.9 when the carriage is lowei'ed. This arm is plvote-lly mounted at its upper end to the carriage l5 so thet when the cer'riegeie depressesl the lower cm. of the loading arm engages the latch arm to depress it. Thus, when the cerriage is depressed, the loacllng arm moves the let-ch arm to its depressed locking position (Figs. 4 l), 21:15 then the proiecticii 28 engages the latch arm, pivots the hold-clown latch away from the cerrlage finally falls in below the step When the carriage i has latched by incense? the arm I when it is moved vexticeily with ref e carriage it in matinee fully described iiabove Nowell application.

The latch. elem is secured in its lowec full line locking position of Figs. 4 em; '7 the force of the spring it means oi pivote."- tel out latches end between which latch arm is received, as shown. These latches are pivoted upon a suitable plate S lo. Intermediem their ends, the trip-out latches and 35 are provideo". with hooks or abutment-s end respectively, which fimction to successively engage the latch arm to hold it clown; as shown, the abutment is spacedsllglotlyabove the abutment Enter: posed between the upper ends of the trip latches beyond their pivotal mountings is a suitable ccm= pression spring bl which blesee these upper ends apart, as viewed in Figs. 6, El end 9, that is, biases their lower ends together.

The trip latches 38 end are controlled by a suitable temperature responsive bimetallic ele= ment 3% which is mounted loosely in e suitable bracket 89. Movement of the left-hand end of the bimetallic element, es viewed in Figs. 3, e end 5, is limited by means of en abutment 5E? and o pivotally mounted adjustable abutment ll. The right-hand end oi the bimetal element is received between the lower ends of the trip-out latches 33 and 8G.

The bimetallic element 88 is heated to e pre= determined high temperature. and then cooled heated up to the predetermined temperature it functions to cause the trip latch erm til to disengage the latch arm 29 to permit it to be en= gaged by the trip latch 36, and when it cools down to the predetermined temperature it functions to release the latch arm from the trip latch 35 to terminate the toasting operation. For the purpose of controlling the heating of the bimetallic element there is provided an auxiliary heating element 422 mounted in close relationship to the bimetallic element.

The heating element 82 is controlled by means of a. control switch 38; this switch comprises a pair of spaced fixed contacts 6% and 35 and a contact 68 movable between them. The movable contact 146 is mounted upon a spring arm 41. The spring arm 6? normally biases the contact t6 into engagement with the fixed contact 66, but is depressed against the force of its natural bias to engage the contact 55 by means of the latch arm 29 when this arm is depressed responsively to the lowering of the carriage id to start the toasting operation. When the switch arm 41 is depressed to close the contact 45, the

auxiliary heater 42 is connected directly in series with the main heating elements I l of the toaster, as shown diagrammatically in Fig. 11. Therefore, both the main elements II and the auxiliary elements 42 are energized by the closure of the main switch 24, which closure happens substantially simultaneously with the closing of the contacts 45 and 48.

The heater 42 heats the bimetallic element 88 so as to causeits trip-out latch controlling end to move from its position of Fig. 8 toward its position of Fig. 9. This operation of the bimetallic element will move the trip latches counterclockwise, as viewed in Figs. 8 and 9, and thereby cause the tooth 88 of trip latch 88 to release the latch arm 29, and the tooth 89 of trip latch 34 to move into its path of movement. As soon as this happens the main spring l8 quickly elevates the carriage l4 so that latch arm 29 is brought into engagement with the tooth 39. This operation of the latch arm 29 releases the resilient switch arm 41 so that it opens the contact 45 and closes the contacts 44 and 49; and this operation of the switch short-circuits the heater 42, but maintains the energization of the toaster heating element I I, as will be clear by an inspection of Fig. 11.

It is to be noted here that when the latch arm 29 pivots from the tooth 35 to the tooth 39 it does not release the projection 29 which remains in engagement with the latch arm step 30 during this movement of the latch arm.

When the heater 42 is deenergized, the bimetallic element 38 at once begins 'to cool and return toward its initial position of Fig. 8. This action of the element moves the trip latches 33 and 94 in the clockwise direction until eventually the tooth 86 will disengage the latch arm 29 to release the carriage l4 and permit it to move upwardly to remove the toasted slices from their toasting positions and move them to their nontoastin positions. It will be understood that when the latch arm 29 is released, the projection 28 will ride up freely over the steps 80 and 3| of the latch arm and will carry the latch arm upwardly with it.

At any time during a toasting cycle the slices may be elevated for inspection by grasping the knob I8 and elevating it slightly. When it is thus elevated it pivots the bracket 20 on the carriage l4 and causes an extension 20a thereon (Figs. 3 and 4) to pivot the hold-down latch 21 outwardly; this causes the projection 28 on the hold-down latch to move away from the step 39 to release the carriage, and hence, the slice carriers. After the inspection, the carriage may be depressed so as to cause reengagement between the projection 28 and the step 30, and the toasting of the slices will be continued.

The means arranged in accordance with this invention for preventing the automatic ejection of the slices at the end of the toasting interval so as to retain the slices in the heating chambers to keep them warm, but which permits the deencrgization of the toaster heating elements at the end of this interval, comprises a keepswarm latch 48 which is pivoted to the vertical plate 84a of the timing mechanism, as shown more clearly in Fig. 6; This latch is arranged to be moved from its full line position shown in Fig. 6 to its dotted line position of this figure so that its lower end moves into the path of movement of the latch arm 29 to prevent the ejection of the toast when this arm is released. However, the carriage I4 is permitted to move high enough to open the switch 24 to deenergize the toaster. In order to provide for this short upward movement of the carriage l4, the latch arm is provided with the second step 8|, referred to above, and spaced above the step 89. This step functions to engage the projection 28 to prevent the ejection of the toast, but it does permit the carriage II to move up sumciently far to open the switch 24.

The keeps-warm latch 48 is operated between its operable and non-operable positions. that is, between its stopping and non-stopping positions, by means of a keeps-warm lever 49. This lever is pivoted at its rear end to a bracket 80 fastened to the front wall of the toasting chambers, and has its forward end projecting through a vertical slot 8| provided for it in the front wall of the toaster casing Ilia. Mounted on the forward end of the lever is a suitable operatingknob 52.

The'lever 49 carries a pin 53 which is arranged to be received in each of a pair of cam-like recesses 84 and 88 provided in the latch 48. The latch 48 is biased in the clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 6, by means of a tension spring 88. one end of which is anchored to the upper end of the latch, as viewed in Fig. 6, and the other end of which is anchored to the plate 84a; in other words, the spring 88 biases the lever 48 to its stopping position wherein its lower end is in position to stop the upward movement of the arm 29 and hence the carriage l4.

when the lever 48' is in its upper position, as viewed in Figs. 2 and 6, the pin 89 is received in the recess 94 so that it forcibly holds the latch 48 in its full line non-stopping position of Fig. 6. and thereby holds its lower end out of the way of the latch arm 28 which may be moved upwardly to permit the automatic ejection oi the toast at the end 01' the toasting period. However, it the knob 82 be depressed so as to move the pin 83- into the recess 85 it will permit the lever 48 to.

be shifted slightly in the clockwise direction by the spring 88 so as to cause its lower end to move into the-path of the latch arm 29 to prevent its upward movement to allow the toast to be ejected in the manner previously described.

If desired, the front wall of the toaster may beprovided with suitable indicia to assist the operator in the control of the knob 52thus the words Pops-Up" may be placed at the upper end of the slot 8| to indicate that ii the knob is in this position the toast will be automatically ejected. while the words Keeps-Warm" may be placed at the bottom of the slot to indicate that if the knob is down at this end of the slot the toast will remain in the heating chambers and be kept warm.

' It is to be noted that ii the knob 92 be in its lower keeps-warm" position so as to prevent the ejection of the toast. the toast may be ejected by elevating the knob 82 to release the catch arm 29 and thereby the projection 28 to permit the toast to be ejected. Alternatively. the toast may be elevated by grasping the knob l8 and elevating it, which in the manner previously described, will remove the projection 28 from the step 8i and thereby permit the ejection of the slice carriers.

It is also to be noted that even if the knob 52 be left in its lower position, it will not in any way affect the operation of the toaster, except to prevent the automatic ejection at the end of the toasting interval. In other words. even if the knob I! be in its lower position, and the toast when done ejected by the manual operation or the knob l8. this knob I! may again be depressed that I do not wish to limited thereto since many modifications my be mode, and I, ther fore, contemplate by the appended claims to cover any such modifications es within the true spirit sod scope oi What I claim so new end desire to secure by Letters Fe -ct of the United 33%}33 is:

l. A toaster comprising a toasting chamber, means for hosting said chamber, a slice-holder in sold chamber movable between s, toe-sting and a non toesting position, means-biasing said holder to its non-toasting position, 33189113 for holding said holder in its vom ting position, timing means for controlling smd means to terminate the toasting interval, mesh; mtueted by said timing means for releasing said holder at the end of the toasting interval to permit said holder to be moved by said biasing means to the nontoasting position to eject the toest, a stop member, means pivot-ally mounting said stop mem-- her for movement from a. first to a second controlling position, means biasing said atop memher to said second position, it member operably associated with said slice holder arranged in be engaged by said stop member when it is in said second position to limit the movement oi. said slice holder to said non-toasting position after the omration of said timing means to terminate the toasting interval and to release said holder so that said toast is maintained in said toasting com= partment and kept warm by the residual heat in said compartment, said pivoteily mounted stop member having a pair of spaced apart cemlike recesses therein, and a manually operable member provided with a section that is adapted to be received in either one of said spaced re= cesses so that when said lever is in such a position that said section is received in the first of said recesses it holds said stopmember in said first position against the force or said biasing means and when said lever is moved so that said section is received in the second 01 said recesses it permits said stop member to be moved to said second position by said spring.

2. A toaster comprising a toasting chamber,

holding said latch arm in said first latching position until the end or said toasting interval at which time it releases said latch arm to permit said slice holder to be moved by said biasin means to the non-toasting position to eject the toast, a stop member movable to a stop position to engage said latch arm after it is released by said timing mechanism and sold toasting interval hesbeen terminated thereby to stop it in a second latching position in which said member engages said second surface on said latch arm to limit the movement of said slice holder toward said non-toasting position so that said toast is maintained in said toasting compartment and kept warm by the residual heat in said compartment, means blesing said stop member to said stop position and a manually operable control member constructed and arranged so that when it is in one position it engages said stop member forcibly to hold it out of said stop position against the force of said biasing means, and when moved to another position to provide for the movement of said stop member to said stop position by said biasing means.

3. A toaster comprising a toasting chamber, means for heating said chamber, a slice-holder in said chamber movable between a toasting and a non-toasting position, means biasing said holdor to its non-toasting position, means for holding said holder in its toasting position, timing means for controlling said heating means to terminate the toasting interval, means actuated by said timing means for releasing said holder at the end of the toasting interval to permit said holder to be moved by saidbiasing me to the non-toasting position to eject the toast, a stop lever, a

means for heating said chamber, a. slice-holder in said chamber movable between a toasting and a. non-toasting position, means biasing said holdfixed pivot supporting said stop lever Ior movement of one end thereof to a stop position, a member operably associated with said holder ar. ranged to be engaged by said end to limit the movement of said holder to said non-toasting position after the operation 0! said timing means to terminate the toasting interval and to release said holder so that said toast is maintained in said toasting compartment and kept warm by the residual heat in said compartment, and further so that said stop lever can be pivoted to move said end away from said stop position to permit said slice holder to move to its non-toasting position, a spring attached to the other end of said stop lever for forcing said one end into said stop position, and said other end being provided with a pair of spaced apart recesses, a manually operable pivoted lever provided with a pin arranged to be received in said recesses selectively by the movement 01' said lever between a pair of controlling positions, said stop and manually operable levers being so positioned with relation to each other and said recesses being so Positioned in said stop lever that when said pin is in one of said recesses it forcibly holds said stop lever in such a position that said one end is removed from its stop position and when said pin is moved into the other of said recesses said stop member is permitted to be moved by said spring so as to carry said one end to said locking position.

WALTER R. WEEKS. 

